Engaging Unnatural Disasters in Environmental Peacebuilding
Date & Time
Jun 19, 2026 |
14.00
- 15.30
Location
CRX 307
Participants
Chairs: Juliane Schillinger, Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre (Netherlands) and Laura E.R. Peters, Oregon State University (United States)
Riyaz Karki, Hiroshima University (Nepal)
Sarah Elizabeth Scales, University of Nebraska Medical Center (United States)
Silvia Danielak, George Mason University (United States)
There are #NoNaturalDisasters. Over 50 years of disaster science demonstrate that socially created vulnerabilities drive impacts – known as disasters – of natural hazard events and processes. Problems with using the “natural disasters” misnomer include falsely conflating hazards and disasters, suggesting that disasters are unavoidable and exogenous events, and elevating climate change as the main concern. Acknowledging the central role of social dynamics in creating disasters, in turn, opens spaces for environmental peacebuilding to proactively contribute to disaster risk reduction by addressing vulnerabilities rooted in conflict, marginalization, and environmental degradation. Acting on disasters before, during, and after they happen can also open unique windows for cooperation and peacebuilding. This panel centers disaster science to inform how the field of environmental peacebuilding, including disaster diplomacy and climate security subdisciplines, can conduct more robust analysis about the relationships between disasters, conflict, and peace – and take conclusions forward in policy and practice. Presenters will highlight critical areas for carving out both problem and solution spaces for environmental peacebuilding in a world impacted by intensifying unnatural disasters.
Disaster Risk Reduction through the Peacekeeper’s Lens
Silvia Danielak, George Mason University (United States)
Environmental Degradation as a Risk Multiplier: Interlinking Hazards, Conflict, and Health
Sarah Elizabeth Scales, University of Nebraska Medical Center (United States)
Gender-Responsive Disaster Risk Reduction in Nepal: Challenges and Opportunities for Environmental Peacebuilding
Riyaz Karki, Hiroshima University (Japan)